


My Best Friend

by camichats



Series: Imagine James and Sirius Prompts [159]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Alternate Universe - No Voldemort, Getting Together, Love Confessions, M/M, Pining, Rejection, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:27:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25533580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/camichats/pseuds/camichats
Summary: Sirius is a bit younger than the rest of them, but he's no less a Marauder. He thinks that his age doesn't matter until he tells James that he fancies him, and all James has to say is that Sirius is too young.
Relationships: Sirius Black/James Potter
Series: Imagine James and Sirius Prompts [159]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/752925
Comments: 4
Kudos: 120





	My Best Friend

**Author's Note:**

> For the prompt: “James is in fifth year with remus and peter and sirius is in his first year. james is a perfect and maybe he finds sirius outside the Gryffindor common room, but he doesn't take points from Gryffindor, and that's how they end up being friends, and after a couple years james realizes he has feelings for sirius and when james is in his last year of Hogwarts sirius confesses to him and they end up together” 
> 
> I changed the prompt a little since I wasn't comfortable writing them getting together when Sirius is 14 but James is 18

Sirius didn't have any friends in Gryffindor, but that wasn't surprising. The Black Family wasn't exactly known for being nice, and everyone had been shocked when he ended up in Gryffindor instead of Slytherin-- Ravenclaw also would have been acceptable to his parents. He wasn't going to let a lack of friends keep him from having fun, which is how he got caught in the corridors after hours. He'd been so close, too. The portrait hole to the Tower was in sight, but he hadn't quite been able to make it there. 

The prefect who found him was one James Potter, also a Gryffindor. Sirius didn't know much about him except that he was popular and on the Gryffindor Quidditch team-- he'd also heard that the Potter's were a family of blood traitors, but he didn't care about that sort of rot. 

"Is this the part where you give me detention?" Sirius asked with a smirk, as if he didn't care. He'd get another Howler if he got detention. It would be real buggering unpleasant, but nothing would be worse than that first one after he got Sorted. 

"Well I guess that depends," James said, which he knew for a fact was not the proper response. "What were you up doing?" 

There was the distant sound of an explosion, and Sirius bit down on his lip in a futile attempt to not smile. 

"I see," James chuckled. "Slytherin dorms?" 

Sirius nodded. 

"Next time, use the door next to the goblin painting. It's not a classroom; it's a passage. Gets you here in half the time," James said. 

"I'll remember that." He'd test it before using it when he was in a hurry, just to be safe. 

James nodded to the Tower. "Don't get caught again, yeah?" 

"Far be it from me to disagree with a prefect." 

James, clearly sensing the lie there, laughed. "Get going, kid." 

* * *

Sirius now had friends. Granted they were all in fifth year when he was still in first, but he didn't care about that and obviously they didn't care either. It was fine, for the most part. Sirius was tall for his age, and Peter was kinda short, which meant that if Sirius walked next to him, he practically blended right in with the group. He even managed to skive off his classes for a while by showing up to all the ones James was in-- he was only a little lost since it's not like the Black family was in the habit of sending off their children without letting them have a few tricks up their sleeves. 

He got caught by Professor McGonagall after a few days, and he was pretty sure that the only reason she didn't notice sooner was because she was still seeing him throughout the day. 

After that though, everyone seemed to realise that this wasn't a weird case of upper classmen taking pity on someone younger who was friendless; Sirius was a part of the group. 

* * *

It was the beginning of second year, and Sirius was beyond glad that he was out of the house for another two terms. Getting back to Grimmauld Place was something he never wanted to do. He wondered-- only in his head, like _fuck_ was he going to say it out loud-- if the Potters would let him visit next summer. James might say yes, but his parents were the truly difficult part. Of course, getting James to agree might be a little difficult too. They were still mates, but James was... a little girl-crazy. Personally, Sirius didn't get it. Women were alright. He didn't see the appeal of chasing after one of them though. 

James, on the other hand, seemed more than happy to pursue Lily. Lily found this about as interesting as Sirius did-- which is to say that she bloody hated it. Unlike Sirius, she had no problem telling James that she hated it; Sirius was a good mate and kept his feelings about it to his damn self. James was chasing after Lily, so what? Remus and Peter were still around. Peter had a girlfriend (sometimes), but Remus wasn't busy half as often. Sirius was pretty sure that he knew more about Remus's coursework than his own from all the time he spent helping Remus with his homework while James and Peter were otherwise occupied. Sirius didn't mind the extra time alone with Remus, but he did sorta miss James. 

Sirius had to shake his head every once in a while to get that thinking out. Remus was perfectly happy to keep him company, and Sirius _did_ like spending time with him. He was overreacting about James. He was. He _knew_ that he was. All that was left was for him to get over it so that he could enjoy his year. Not that there was much to enjoy about second year, but whatever. 

* * *

They were graduating. 

Sirius hated this. 

His best friends were graduating Hogwarts, and he was stuck still going to classes. It's not like Sirius was asking for a whole lot, but why the buggering fuck had he not been born a few years earlier? He might've been able to graduate early to go into the world alongside them. Or maybe he could've been born in the same year and avoided all of this. He would've been in the same year, in the same classes as all of them-- without sneaking in, that is. 

Probably the worst part about all of this, was that he'd finally realised why he didn't like James fancying Lily; _he_ fancied James. This wasn't the best thing he'd ever learned about himself. Liking blokes was bad enough, but James? James was his best friend. James wouldn't want to know that Sirius felt that way about him, probably. Sirius was going to tell him anyways because he wasn't going to take the risk that James _did_ feel the same way and refused to say something first. Sirius had to take the first step, and he knew that. 

So he marched right up to James and told him. Or at least, that's how he wanted it to go when he imagined it. In reality, he sort of shuffled up to James like he was ashamed of himself and asked if they could talk alone for a minute. It was the end of the year party even though they still had two weeks left, but all the exams were over for OWL's and NEWT's (Sirius still had to take his exams for his classes, but they were going to be so easy that he could show up to all of them hungover and still pass with flying colours). 

"Sure," James said with a bemused smile. It was easy to leave the party for a nearby empty classroom, and they stayed near the door since this wasn't going to take long. "What's up?" 

Sirius had never been good with words, so he fisted a hand in the front of James's robes and pulled him in, kissing him briefly. 

James blinked at him, but he wasn't exactly bursting with happiness over this. "Erm, Sirius-" 

"Right, you're not bent," Sirius hurried to say. He let go of James and took a step back to give him some space. "I know. I just wanted to do it before you left. Not really going to get a second chance, you know? And I figured that if I didn't say something now, then I never would. I know you're not bent," Sirius said again, because James was still giving him a look that he didn't really appreciate. 

"It's not... it's not that," James said quietly. "But you're... Sirius, you're _fourteen_." 

"So?" 

"And I'm eighteen. It's a little weird." 

Oh, he thought, heart sinking. Sirius was too young. Him being a bloke wasn't the part that James had a problem with; it's that he was too damn young. He couldn't fix that. No matter what he did, he wasn't going to be able to get older in time for it to mean anything to James. "Four years isn't that much," Sirius tried, but he knew that it wasn't going to do any good. 

"Not that much when you're, like, forty," James said, "but we're teenagers." Then he sighed and put an arm around Sirius's shoulders. "It's just a crush; I wouldn't worry about it, mate. You'll be over me in no time." 

Sirius grit his teeth together to keep from snapping that this wasn't a crush. He was serious about this-- about _James_. But saying that out loud would make him sound like a kid, so he kept it to himself. 

"Let's go back to the party, yeah?" James said with a little encouraging smile. 

Sirius had to swallow before responding, otherwise his voice would've come out scratchy. "Yeah. Let's go." 

* * *

Until Sirius graduated Hogwarts, him and James didn't see a lot of each other. Sirius left the school during break so he could see him and catch up, and of course there was the summer, where Sirius tried to catch up on all the time they'd missed. Summer was pretty okay for the first couple years, then Sirius got kicked out of Grimmauld Place. Uncle Alphard took him in, but Sirius wasn't about to tell James all of that. James thought of him as a kid before any of that happened, and he wasn't going to make it worse by telling him that his parents had kicked him off for being a poof (among other things). 

But it was good. Mostly. He had a place to live, and Uncle Alphard mostly didn't care what he did so long as he didn't destroy anything. Now he was eighteen and trying to figure out what the hell he wanted to do with his life. Being at Hogwarts hadn't taught him much, except that he didn't like any of the career options that were available to him. 

He was good with engines. Good with cars. Alphard had given one look to the motorbike Sirius had built and enhanced in the backyard and said that he didn't want to know, and Sirius had gotten better since then. He managed to get a job at a mechanic's garage. He liked it. He sodding loved it, except for the part where he only got to see James once every month after working around James's schedule. It didn't feel like they were mates, anymore; it felt like they were scheduling awkward catch-up's that only got more awkward with every meeting. 

The bell jingled from someone's car rolling over it. "Hey Sirius, go see who that is!" Mark called from where he was rolled under someone's truck. 

"Yeah," Sirius yelled back to let Mark know that he'd heard him. He walked out towards them, idly wiping his hands off on his pants. "Can I help you?" 

"Sirius?" 

Sirius looked up-- and paid actual attention to the person instead of trying to dry his hands the rest of the way-- then froze. "Peter?" What was Peter doing here? _How_ was Peter here? Sure he was a half-blood, but most people went into the Wizarding World fully when they were an adult, not the other way around. Sirius did not think about how it was a hypocritical observation what with how he had one foot in the Wizarding World and one in the muggle world. "Since when do you have a car?" 

"I don't; it's Lily's. She was busy today, so she asked for me to drop it off. Are you working here?" he asked incredulously. 

Sirius bit the inside of his cheek to keep from making an automatic, defensive response. "Yeah." 

"Oh," Peter said, blinking. "I guess that's why you've been so weird lately." 

"Who said I'm being weird?" 

"James." 

Of bloody course. Who else would it have been? It was hard to schedule time with James, let alone the whole group, and it's not like Sirius had a whole load of friends who could say things about him. "James is _not_ one to talk about me being weird with the way he's been acting." Sirius glanced back at the garage and sighed. "What did you come in for?" 

"Oh, er- new tires." 

* * *

Peter managed to get Sirius to agree to dinner. With the whole group. Which proved wrong Sirius's earlier assumption that it would be murder to try and align their schedules. Unfortunately, it also made him feel worse about his monthly meet-up's with James, since James was going to be here too and-- according to Peter-- was rarely busy in the evenings. James had been avoiding him; he never _actually_ wanted to get dinner with Sirius. Of course, Peter didn't mention that James was going to be there until after Sirius agreed to go because he was an arse. 

Peter should know better than to do that to him. Sure, Sirius hadn't mentioned him asking James out and the subsequent embarrassment, but he should have a sixth sense about that sort of thing. He was the observant one of the group, after all. 

* * *

"Okay, what the hell is up with the two of you?" Remus asked. He'd sort of dragged Sirius to the side as Peter and James put the rest of the takeaway in the fridge. 

"What? I didn't do anything." 

"James is acting guilty. What happened?" 

"He's not acting guilty; that's how he always is these days." 

Remus frowned in bewilderment. "What are you talking about? He's fine around me and Peter." 

"Well then I must be special," Sirius grumbled. "Now excuse me, I'm going to leave before it has a chance to get worse." 

Remus clamped a hand down on his arm before he could make his escape. "Nope. You and James are going to talk?" 

"Please tell me you're joking," Sirius said blankly. 

"Nope. Peter is talking to James right now, and you two are going to fix whatever this is." 

"What makes you think it's any of your business? What if it's personal?" 

"If it were actually anything I'd feel bad prying about, you'd both be pretending that everything was fine instead of moping about like you just got doused with cold water." 

Sirius tried to protest, but it was like a whirlwind when Peter and Remus left, practically shoving both of them into place before rushing out the door. "They are so bloody weird," Sirius said, staring at the door. 

"They really are," James agreed. 

Silence. 

Sirius cleared his throat. "Well. I er, should get going, then." 

"Wait. They erm- they're right. We should talk. Or, I should talk, I guess." 

"Talk about what?" 

"Us." 

Sirius blinked at him. Wondered if this was a joke and blinked again. "What about us? We see each other once a month. It could be more, but it's still not bad." 

"Erm." James shifted his weight and looked down at the floor, looking uncomfortable in his own skin. "When... at Hogwarts, when you told me that you fancied me-" 

"Do we really need to talk about that? It was embarrassing, let's just forget about it." 

"You were fourteen," James said quietly. 

"Yeah, I sodding remember. Why are you doing this?" 

James looked even more uncomfortable than before. "I told you that I wasn't interested, and I was lying. I mean- shit, have you met you? Of course I was interested! But you were _fourteen_ and I couldn't do that. It would've been..." he trailed off, making a face. Then he shook his head. 

"Fascinating," Sirius said flatly, even though his heart was pounding. What was the point to this? That night was ages ago; there was no reason to bring it up now. "Are you going somewhere with this or are you just reminding me that I've never dated anyone?" 

"I've been... well, I've been thinking of asking you out," James said, looking up from the floor. "But I didn't want you to think it was a joke or summat. Or that- I dunno that I was only interested in you because you've, like, _really_ grown into yourself." 

"You- I'm sorry, was that you trying to say that you think I'm handsome? 'Cause you can just say that. For Merlin's sake, James, I don't think you just want me because I'm gorgeous. Yeah, I'm a catch, but I'm also annoying and most people aren't willing to put up with that. If you ask me out, I'd know that it was real." Would he have known it was real five minutes ago? No, but it wasn't five minutes ago, so there was no need to dwell on it. 

James gave him a look like he didn't believe that, but he didn't say anything about it. "Fine, do you want to get dinner with me?" 

"We get dinner together all the time." 

"You're making this more difficult than it needs to be." 

Sirius smirked at him. "Think of it as a taste of what's to come." 

There was a pause, a moment where James didn't know if he was going to take it personally or laugh it off. Then he laughed, finally looking like himself again. "Alright. What do _you_ want to do as a date, then?" 

"Go to the movies." 

James blinked. "Er. Movies?" 

"Muggle invention. Don't worry, you'll love it." 

"I'm sure I will," James said, with all the certainty of someone that had no idea what they were signing up for. "When do you want to go?" 

"I work kinda late tomorrow, so... day after?" 

"Sounds good. So can I kiss you, or do I have to wait until after our first date?" 

Sirius grabbed him and gave him a quick kiss, just barely catching the corner of his mouth. "You'll get a proper one after." 

James laughed again and licked his lips. "That sounds fair." 

**Author's Note:**

> This is from a prompt driven blog @[imaginejamesandsirius](https://imaginejamesandsirius.tumblr.com) on tumblr. Feel free to drop by!


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